What’s your mid-year strategy? The next couple months carry vast opportunity with both current clients and prospects. There’s no looming renewal deadlines or employer end of the year close-out urgency or organizing open enrollment meetings. So how are you leveraging the time?

I’m sharing 3 ideas to help make the most of your mid-year efforts…. 

1. Directly address employer challenges

Don’t ignore the employee benefit issues you know weigh on your groups. Is it rising healthcare costs and employees paying more out-of-pocket than ever before (click here for an infographic with Milliman research)? What about fear of another plan design change and how it will impact employees? Maybe it's prescription costs, shrinking formularies, or the HR department’s lack of time…well, for anything. 

Too often brokers fear bringing up these pain points as if it indicates they’re not doing a good job. Instead, look at it as an opportunity to improve business for your clients and demonstrate your attention to their real concerns and needs – and your ability to deliver solutions.

2. Bring recommendations for each scenario

With each client, you’re probably in one of two camps:

CAMP 1 The medical plan selection consumed both time and budget at the end of the year. Services like telehealth or advocacy are limited to those embedded in the health plan. 

CAMP 2 You’ve rolled out some new consumerism tools in an effort to drive claims away from the medical plan.

Either way, it’s the right time to review details and performance with your clients. Where do claims to their health plan stand mid-year? What’s the utilization of services that can remove claims from their plan?

CAMP 1 Scenario

If you didn’t implement a full strategy of consumerism tools alongside the health plan, mid-year is the right time to create space for this approach. Go to your meetings prepped to show your clients how consumerism tools that get used can deliver bottom-line savings and help employees save out of pocket costs (remember: embedded services don’t equal usage). Prep your recommendations with a custom proposal, case studies, and/or a demo of the solution you’re recommending.

CAMP 2 Scenario

If you introduced consumerism tools and the group’s utilization is great, you can discuss the net savings to date and project savings they can expect through the rest of the year. That’s a terrific conversation!

What if utilization isn’t great? There are a couple things to consider.

• Perhaps too many changes happened in January and the new program fell through the cracks for the employees. Recommend a relaunch of the program over the next couple months while things are quieter. Click here for an article from our freshbenies Engagement Coordinator with ideas to share with your HR teams. 
• What are the average utilization rates of the tools you introduced? If your group is falling short of the average, then the relaunch mentioned above is a good move. But, if numbers are falling short and the vendor doesn’t offer a strong engagement strategy, shifting focus to other solutions and re-measuring the savings after another 6 months is a good idea. 

Finally, if you’re a current freshbenies client and you haven’t taken advantage of our add-on services, use this slower time of year to help your employers and their employees with additional ways to control healthcare (and more). You can install them at mid-year or create a plan for renewal time.  

3. Take this time to prospect

Mid-year meetings are not just for clients, it’s a great time to prospect as well.  Last week, I spoke with a broker who rolled out a new client on our solution last January. They’ve seen solid results in their first 6 months, so he’s taking the group’s utilization report to prospect meetings to win new business. 

Ancillary services are a great way to get your foot in the door if you have the right approach. Here’s three articles to help you plan:

1. 5 TIPS: USING NON-INSURANCE SERVICES TO PROSPECT – Discover how these services can open doors and set you apart from other brokers.

2. STOP COMPETING ON PRICE: 5 TIPS – Take time to identify your ideal clients and what they really want.

3. BENEFIT BUNDLES: 3 ADVANTAGES FOR EMPLOYERS – Learn to communicate how a winning bundle works for any employer size. 

Create opportunities over the next few months to strategize with groups, evaluate recent changes, and offer up some new ideas – both with clients and prospects. 

Now it’s your turn! What makes for successful mid-year conversations with your clients? How do you approach mid-year prospecting opportunities? Comment below or email us at brokers@freshbenies.com.